Friday night, I was out with my cousin Charles and some friends at the sports bar formerly known as Cluck U., in Santa Clara, Calif. While waiting in line, he told me he was going for a trip to Oakland the next morning to pick up a set of wheels for a bike he is building for his girlfriend, Laura. I jumped at the opportunity, and asked him if I could join. It would be my first time back to Oakland/Berkeley since my graduation. Although it was a last minute trip, I got the opportunity to meet up with a couple good friends from Cal whom I had not seen since graduation, as well as checking out some cool spots in the area.

After arriving at Berkeley, we noticed we were riding on a flat tire on the rear driver’s side. We pulled into a Big Ol’ Tires and waited half an hour to get the rear tires replaced. In the meantime, we made our way through San Pablo Avenue, scoping out the modified funky cars so common in Berkeley.

This car below reminded me of the song “Fantastic Voyage” by Coolio for some reason. Hella throwback and hippie, all at the same time.

Afterward, we met up with a good friend of mine named J., who I met when I used to help out with a magazine on campus called Cal Literature and Arts Magazine. We caught up in this cafe in the Temescal Disctrict of Oakland. At this cafe, they had about a dozen guys behind the counter working solely on chicken sandwiches, which is about all they make. I had two sandwiches and a lemonade ready about 30 seconds after I ordered. the total came out to $18 bucks, but they were really great sandwiches. My friend J. got me caught up on her life and everyone we used to know who worked with us on the magazine. Some people were still in Oakland/Berkeley, one friend of ours was in Peru, and some others had moved back to their hometowns. My friend, who was an honors graduate in the Berkeley Rhetoric Department, was studying for the Graduate Record Exam (think SAT for Grad school) and was hoping to get into a Ph.D. program somewhere in the East Coast within a year. My friend has gone through a lot just this year alone, and I need to remind myself to continue to pray and remember her as she keeps moving on towards further endeavors. Wow, it was overwhelming to think how much can change within a year. Then, she showed us around other parts in Temescal, which included a bike shop and another shop that sold used goods and antiques. My friend said she has picked up a couple good frames there and some canvases for her paintings too. This place had everything, from used cell phones to old toilet paper tubes and egg cartons. It was like Michael’s met Goodwill and had a baby.